A friend of my recently asked me for advice on buying a camera to film
his church services. He says that their budget would probably be no more than about
£1K for a camera, and that in time they would perhaps buy another couple of cameras around that price. I suggested to him that he would probably pick up a VX2000 or 2100 second hand for that price which would probably work well for his situation.
I'm not familiar with newer cameras in this price range myself, so does anyone have any other suggestions as to possible cameras new or old under the 1k Mark.
You can pick up a new Canon XM2 for under £1k on the internet!! Not HD but a blimmin good camera for the money!!
I've got an XM2 myself, but I'm thinking the VX would be better indoor for the
low light levels.
Goldeneye, the XM2 is on par with the VX IMHO
Personally, I love the Panny DVX100 - quite compact - smaller than the XL series, opens up to f1.6, has a great pullout screen that is bright, bigger than the XM1/2 and makes focussing a cinch - much better than the XM's. Also has a reasonable manual zoom but unfortunately may be a little over your proposed budget. I've seen the DVX100B 2nd hand from Preston's at around £1600 and the earlier model, the DVX at £1200 (it's around £2K new).
IMHO the best SD 1/3" 3 chipper going. Of course, the Sony's can shoot DVCAM which, I believe, gives the advantage of locked audio, but I've never had the DVX drift on me yet.